I spoke with Jeff at Xbox Live technical support and he knew exactly what our problem was. Here is the deal:

All routers have a NAT setting (Network address translation). These settings determine the aggressive port assignment and depending on what it's set to, the routers conflict with eachother and you can experience all the problems we've been having (unable to connect to chat/games; no voice in games etc.)

Here's the fix:

Log into your router and see if there is a setting for NAT.(The guy said that some routers will let you configure it yourself and some require you to contact the OEM to do it.)

The NAT needs to be set to 1. If its set to 2 or 3, you need to change it to 1.

If you don't have a choice of 1,2 or 3 then set it to Nat with minimal port assignment with no port filtering.

If you've had problems connecting with me and others, you should check your settings (I know Bryan and I have each experienced this problem with Howie and James). I'm going to check my settings as soon as I get home. I have a Netgear wireless router and I hope this is a setting that I can configure. I'll post more later when I've had some time to check it out.

You might have both a PC and your Xbox console on your home network. When you have multiple devices on your home network sharing one Internet connection, the devices typically perform this sharing through Network Address Translation (NAT).

Note NAT is sometimes called Network Address and Port Translation (NAPT).What does NAT do on Xbox Live?

Not all devices perform this NAT function the same way. We’ve classified NAT types into three categories: open, moderate, and strict. Devices that perform strict or moderate NAT can limit the ability of gamers to find each other, participate in sessions, or hear each other on Xbox Live.How do I find out my NAT type?

If your router is Xbox Live Compatible certified, your NAT type is open. If you want to check the NAT type of any router, Xbox Live Compatible certified or not, you can do so using the Xbox Dashboard.To see your NAT type in the Xbox Dashboard

1. Select Xbox Live to sign in to Xbox Live from the Xbox Dashboard. 2. From the Connect Status screen, press the Y button on your controller. 3. Press the A button to see diagnostic information. Find NT: x, where x is your NAT type. 1 means open, 2 means moderate, and 3 means strict.

What does NAT mean to me and my friends?

Suppose you want to host an Xbox Live game and you’re using a router that’s classified as open. Armed with that information and using the chart above, you can be confident that your router’s NAT type will not keep your friends (who may also be using routers) from finding your session, hearing your voice, and enjoying a great game.

But let’s say you’re behind a router that’s a strict NAT. When you want to host a game, you now have something to consider. Anyone else who’s behind a router that uses a moderate or strict NAT may not be able to connect to your session.

Let’s look at one final example going the other direction: you joining someone else’s game. Will you be able to participate fully with everyone in the game? If you have a moderate NAT on your home network, you can get an idea of what may happen by looking at the chart. If the players you want to play with are using strict NATs, you will likely experience problems. You may not be able to hear them and they may not be able to hear you. You may not be able to see those players at all.

Note NATs don’t affect lag; this is all about connecting to other players!What does each NAT type mean?

It doesn’t have to anything to do with security. A router performing “open” NAT is no less secure than a router performing “strict” NAT. The classification system boils down to something called a port assignment policy.

* Open NAT means that either the port assignment policy is minimal or the router has a fully compliant version of UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) enabled by default. * Moderate NAT means that the port assignment policy is minimal, but there is address or port filtering taking place. * Strict NAT means the port assignment policy is aggressive.

I've been working with Bryan on this the last few weeks since he and I have been having a lot of problems. Both of us have been at NT1 for a while. I was originally at 3 but moved my Xbox to the DMZ which corrected this. We're both still having problems so there has to be another factor involved thats causing this. It happens on both my hardwired and wireless Xboxes, both at NT1.

I checked and sure enough, mine was set to 3 . So I logged into the router and unfortunately there was no way to change the NAT settings on my router. So I called NetGear and found out I needed to manually open the ports that XBOX uses for the Live service.

Next, I called 1-800-4MYXBOX and got their customer support and found out the ports that need opening. To save you guys the trouble of calling in, here they are:

UDP 88UDP 3074TCP 3074

I manually opened the ports on the router and then fired up Burnout Revenge. I was able to play and hear Howie, so that's encouraging. I hope this fixes everything, over the weekend I'll have more opportunities to test it out.

Opening probably unblocks it, and forwarding routes it directly to your Xbox if the connection is established from outside. Forwarding might require a static IP (which I actually use). Try opening it first.

I guess that's my problem. I don't see where I can open any ports with my router (Linksys WRT54G) and I just updated my firmware. I don't think forwarding is an option...not because I don't have static IPs, but because I'm running two Xboxes behind this router. Anyone else have a WRT54G? I don't see where to open ports.

Yeah, I can forward no problem. I do that for my PC when I run game servers. But since I have 2 xboxes behind the same router, I can't forward those listed ports to both IPs the boxes are on. Seems like I'd cause a conflict between the xboxes if I forward to only one, or even both. Or am I missing some logic here?

To port forward you need to put in the IP address that your Xbox has. Essentially what happens is that when any data comes into the router on the specified ports, that data is forwarded to the specified IP address (your xbox).

From dashboard you can go to settings, network settings, and then do a conenction test which should tell you your IP address.

The thing to remember with port forwarding and a Router set to DHCP is that your Xbox could get a different address each time you boot it (depending how often you turn it on). Depending how long your router leases each IP address out will be the determining factor here. If you turn on your xbox every day or two, you probably don't have to worry about it's IP changing.